Once Upon A Time
by Maureen Painted Green
Summary: Many years after Gilmore Girls, a newcomer comes to Stars Hollow and the ritual telling of a very old story brings back memories of an incredible love. JavaJunkie.
1. Welcome to Stars Hollow

**A/N:** A little bit of a different take on the story of Luke and Lorelai. The newcomer is based loosely on me, but really is more of a plot device than a character.

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It was many years ago that I first came to Star's Hollow. I was starting a new job in Hartford, but decided to live in nearby Star's Hollow. I'd grown up in a small town, and had no desire to stop living in one. It took me about a week to move all my stuff in. I saw curious townspeople pass me by from time to time, watching me with interest. I was an unknown to them. A wild card. Little did they know I was from a town where we all used to do the same thing.

At first, I knew almost no one in Star's Hollow. It took some time for me to adjust to the new job, and I spent most of my time at the office. Finally, I was blessed with a bit of vacation time and decided to spend it getting better acquainted with my brand-new small-town home.

I started off with the stores, just wandering in and out, taking in the general rhythm of the town. It was peaceful and sweet, like something you'd read about in a fairy tale. It just seemed to move a little slower there than anywhere else in the world. To this day, I'm not sure where it comes from, but the magic of Star's Hollow is one of a kind. Once you're part of it, it'll never stop being part of you.

During my wandering, I heard about a town meeting, which was apparently considered prime entertainment around the town. Having nothing better to do, I decided to attend. I walked into what appeared to be a very old dance studio. I found out later that it was owned by a young woman whose family had been in Star's Hollow for many generations. I took my seat at the back of the meeting, not wanting to attract too much attention to myself, being the newcomer and all.

Entertaining didn't begin to cover it. The town meeting covered topics from fundraisers to festivals and everything in between. Everyone gave their two cents without even waiting to be acknowledged. I had a good time, and was sorry when it was over. The big doors were rolled open again, and I exited through the doors into the warm summer breeze.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" Asked a young Asian-looking girl.

"Yes. I moved from Michigan a few weeks ago. Any idea where I could get a decent cup of coffee around here?"

"Have you tried Luke's?"

"No. Where's that?"

"C'mon." She smiled. "I'll take you there."

"So do you know this Luke?" I asked, figuring the place was some sort of town hotspot.

"No." She replied, laughing a little.

"Is Luke an actual person, or is that just some town quirk?" I wondered.

"There was a Luke. He started the business a long time ago. Before that, it was a hardware store. It belonged to his dad."

"Really?" I was intrigued.

"I'm really surprised you haven't heard this story. You've been here about a month, right?"

"About that, yeah."

"Usually, people hear the story right away."

"Well, I haven't been around much. I work in Hartford, and it's been keeping me pretty busy."

"Oh, well in that case, sit back and relax." She laughed, leading me to a gazebo in the center of town, "'Cause it's gonna be a great story."


	2. The Story, Part I

**A/N:** Thanks to all who reviewed my first chapter. This one's a little longer, but it's only part 1 of the great saga. There will be much more to come. I really have nothing interesting to say tonight. It very well may have something to do with the lack of caffeine I am experiencing.

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"Once upon a time..." She began.

"Oh, is this one of those once-upon-a-time, happily-ever-after stories?" I asked skeptically.

"Not quite." She smiled. "Star's Hollow's a little too crazy for that."

"Continue then." I laughed. Cynicism about fairy tales was something I'd developed early on. Around the time that I decided Cinderella could have done so much better than Prince Charming."

"It was a long time ago..."

"What happened to once upon a time?" She glared at me.

"Please advise me as to what beginning you would like most to hear."

"Surprise me." I grinned.

"Fine. No interruptions this time." She began again, "Long ago in Star's Hollow, there was a man named Luke Danes. Luke had grown up here, and his parents both died when he was young. His father left him what was then a hardware store, which Luke later turned into a diner. His whole life was that diner. Every day was the same for him, filling orders, serving customers, and cooking food. He was a creature of habit, but he liked it that way.

All of that changed one crazy day. It was a very busy day at the diner, and there were a lot of people waiting to be served. He was trying his best to attend to the masses when a gorgeous young woman walked in the door desperate for caffeine. He looked at her for a minute, trying to figure out who she was.

"Hold on," he told her, "I have other people to serve". He expected her to sit down and stop talking, but this woman was never one to do what people expected. She kept following him around the diner, begging for coffee. Finally, he yelled at her to sit down and let him do his job. She sat, but kept asking questions.

"When's your birthday?" She wanted to know. He had no idea why this would matter to her, but he didn't really want to find out. He refused to tell her. She kept asking, and finally he gave in. She opened up the newspaper and was quiet for a minute. He was serving some other customers when she came up behind him and handed him a tiny slip of paper, ripped out from the magazine."

"Oooh!" I was intrigued. "What was it?"

"It was a horoscope." She continued. "His horoscope. And underneath 'Scorpio', she had written _'You will meet an annoying woman today. Give her coffee and she'll go away'._ He gave her coffee.

The next day, she was back, this time with a young girl in tow. She introduced the girl as her daughter, Rory, and herself as Lorelai Gilmore, and once again begged him for coffee. he smiled, and handed over the cup. He was turning back to the kitchen when Lorelai stopped him.

"Rory needs some too!" She said.

"No, Rory does not." He returned. "How old are you, Rory?"

"Twelve." She replied.

"She does NOT need coffee."

"You don't know Rory like I do." Lorelai grinned.

"Fine." Luke poured another cup of coffee. Lorelai and Rory finished their coffee, talking and laughing the whole time. When they finished, Lorelai claimed the mug as hers, saying that she wanted to have that particular mug whenever she came into Luke's. Luke just laughed.

The next day, and basically every day after that, Rory and Lorelai were at Luke's. Always for breakfast. Sometimes for dinner. Lorelai even came in for lunch sometimes. It quickly became their hangout, even though Lorelai called Luke "Duke" for the first two months to annoy him. Eventually, Luke and Lorelai became friends, to the point where he would come over and fix things that were broken at her house. They were always very close, and told each other things they wouldn't tell anyone else.

All the citizens of the town noticed Luke and Lorelai's friendship, and the way they were so comfortable talking and flirting with each other. The townies gave them hints from time to time, some not so subtle, but Luke and Lorelai always seemed to be toeing some invisible line. They would clearly have been the perfect couple, and everyone could see it but them. People were constantly mistaking them for a couple, even Lorelai's mother on occasion.

Lorelai always seemed to have some guy or other around, which always bugged Luke a little. First, there was Max, Rory's school teacher, who proposed to Lorelai with a thousand yellow daisies, her favorite flower. Caught up in the magic of the proposal, Lorelai said yes. The weekend before the wedding, though, she changed her mind and went on a road trip with Rory to get away. When Luke found out she wasn't getting married, he gave everyone in the diner free coffee.

After Max, she got back together with Rory's father, only to have him leave her for his pregnant girlfriend. Then there was Alex, the guy who took her coffee tasting. He didn't last long, but Luke did teach Lorelai how to fish for one of her dates with Alex. She also dated Jason, her dad's business partner, basically because it pissed off her mom. She broke up with him when he sued her dad.

Throughout all of this, Luke was there to be her friend, crying shoulder, and Mr. Fix-it in shining toolbelt. Even so, there were a few times when Luke got a little romance of his own. A few years after he met Lorelai, his ex-girlfriend came back to Star's Hollow in a freakish blast from the past. Her name was Rachel, and she had a tendency to leave unexpectedly. When Rachel realized that Luke wasn't in love with her, she noticed that he did seem to be in love with Lorelai. She wisely told him to confess his feelings to her before it was too late. The next day, Lorelai got engaged to Max.

Three years later, Luke married a lawyer named Nicole on a cruise. He found out she was cheating on him with the infamous "Sock-man" about 4 months later, and they divorced. Around this time, Lorelai was finally starting in on her dream of owning her own inn. He supported her in the crazy moods this endeavor brought on, and even loaned her $30,000 when she went broke. A few days before the inn opened, Lorelai made a crack about self-help tapes in her and Luke's futures. Out of the blue, Luke decided she might have a point.

He bought a self-help tape, and listened to it for about a week as it slowly drove him insane. He was about to give up on the idiotic idea when the tape introduced a bizarre test.

"Whose phone calls or visits are never unwanted or too long?" It said, "Do you see her face? Who would you most like to have in your life to ward off moments of loneliness? Do you see her face? When you travel, who would make your travels more enjoyable? Do you see her face? When you're in pain, who would you most like to comfort you? Do you see her face? When something wonderful happens in your life, who do you want to share the news with? Do you see her face? Whose face appears to you, my friend? Whose face?"

"Whoa." Luke said to the empty room. In his mind's eye, he saw Lorelai.

He went to the almost-running Dragonfly Inn hoping to find her. He waylaid her as she was getting in her car, and invited her to his sister's wedding. She happily accepted, offering to dress "fruity" to coincide with the renaissance theme.

She met him at the diner, and they walked to the wedding together. It was a nice ceremony, although he and Lorelai had to try very hard not to laugh throughout most of it. The vows, they agreed, weren't funny at all. As the night was drawing to a close, Luke asked Lorelai to dance. Surprised, she accepted, and as they danced in the beautifully lit town square, you could tell something magical was happening.

That weekend signaled the end of Lorelai's long labor on the Dragonfly Inn. All the Star's Hollow regulars were invited out to the new town business for a "test run". It was a smash hit, although Lorelai's parents got fed up and left halfway through. Additionally, Jason showed up in an attempt to reconcile with Lorelai, which gave Luke some major jealousy issues. He confronted her about it that evening.

"You knew what I was doing!" He told her, angry.

"Well, not officially." She replied.

"Not officially? Do you know the last time I bought flowers for someone? Never! That's a very easy stat to remember!"

"I loved the flowers."

"And when we were walking home from the wedding, there was a moment. I thought there was a moment."

"There was." Lorelai's voice quieted. "There was a moment." Luke moved towards her. "What are you doing?" She asked in a whisper.

"Would you just stand still?" He quipped. And then he kissed her. On the porch of her brand new inn, that he had invested a lot more than money in. He kissed her for the first time, the woman he'd been hopelessly in love with for 8 years. When they broke apart, she stared at her feet for a second, and then made a decision. She reached for him.

"What are you doing?" He worried.

"Will you just stand still?" She whispered, holding his face in her hands and kissing him. He held her as close as he could, and for that moment, nothing mattered but her.

A few minutes later, Kirk, the town lunatic would interrupt them when he ran outside naked and screaming, but for now Luke and Lorelai just enjoyed each other."

"Is that the story?" I asked.

"Oh no." She laughed. "That's only part of it. How about we go get some coffee and I'll tell you the rest. The next part is more Luke's discussion than gazebo discussion."

"Sounds good." I replied, following her across the street.


	3. The Story, Part II

"This is delicious!" I said, taking another sip of my coffee. "How do they do it?"

"That's just what Luke's coffee tastes like. Apparently when he was here, it was even better. He had some secret recipe. No one else knew it, except Lorelai."

"What happened next, anyway?" I asked, eager to hear some more of the story of Luke and Lorelai. The young woman just laughed.

"Luke and Lorelai decided to take it from where they left off, and go out on an actual date. They waited almost 7 weeks to go on the date though, because Luke had to go and help his sister and her husband who had been in a car accident. When he got back from Maine, he asked Lorelai out on a mystery date. He picked her up and they drove for a while. She constantly asked where they were going, but he refused to tell her, saying it would spoil the surprise. Finally, they pulled up outside a restaurant called Sniffy's Tavern. Lorelai was surprised the learn that Luke was very close to the owners of the restaurant, and even more surprised to learn that he ate at Sniffy's several times a week. The date was going well, but neither of them had much to say until Lorelai brought up an interesting subject.

"Do you remember how we met?" She asked Luke. "I'm just trying to figure out how we met. It must have been at Luke's, right?"

"It was at Luke's, it was at lunch." He replied, "It was a very busy day, the place was packed, and this person comes tearing into the place in a caffeine frenzy. I was with a customer. She interrupts me, wild-eyed, begging for coffee, so I tell her to wait her turn. Then she starts following me around, talking a mile a minute, saying God knows what. So finally I turn to her, and I tell her she's being annoying - sit down, shut up, I'll get to her when I get to her. She asked me what my birthday was. I wouldn't tell her. She wouldn't stop talking. I gave in. I told her my birthday. Then she opened up the newspaper to the horoscope page, wrote something down, tore it out, handed it to me. So I'm looking at this piece of paper in my hand, and under 'Scorpio,' she had written, 'You will meet an annoying woman today. Give her coffee and she'll go away.' I gave her coffee.

"But she didn't go away." Lorelai grinned.

"She told me to hold on to that horoscope, put it in my wallet, and carry it around with me. One day it would bring me luck." He said, reaching for his wallet and pulling out a tiny slip of paper. He handed it to Lorelai to inspect.

"I can't believe you kept this." She said. "You kept this in your wallet? You kept this in your wallet..."

"Eight years." He replied.

From then on, Luke and Lorelai were Stars Hollow's IT couple. Everyone knew they were perfect for each other. They hit a rough spot when they went to the vow renewal of Lorelai's parents, and even broke up for a while, but within weeks, they missed each other too much to stay apart. There was just too much love between them. A few months after they got back together, Lorelai's daughter, Rory dropped out of Yale, and she came running to Luke for comfort. When she told him about Rory, he went crazy, suggesting that they follow her to class and make sure she went. It was at that moment that Lorelai finally realized what an amazing man she had, and how much he loved her. In that moment, she was herself spending the rest of her life with him.

"Luke, will you marry me?" She asked him, in this very spot. He accepted right away. After a run to Doose's to get some celebratory alcohol, they finally felt it sink in. They were engaged.

The problems didn't magically disappear when they got engaged, though. Rory and Lorelai still weren't speaking because of Rory's choice. Lorelai didn't want to get married without Rory there, so there was no wedding date set for her and Luke. After months of heartbreak over her absent daughter, Rory finally went back to school, and back to her loving mother. It was then that Lorelai and Luke chose a wedding date, June 3rd, 2006. Everything was finally falling in to place, until someone new entered the picture.

One day in this very diner, Luke was busy working when a dark-haired girl walked in and took some of his hair, and a picture of him to do a DNA test. She said she was looking for her father. A few days later, Luke found out that her father was him. Faced with a huge new responsibility, he didn't know how to tell Lorelai. He decided to let it be for a while, until he figured out how to break it to her. It worked well at first, but a few months later, Lorelai walked into Luke's diner and found his daughter, April, filling salt shakers, and the whole story came out. She made the best of it, and offered to postpone the wedding in order to give Luke a chance to get to know his daughter. They postponed the wedding, but didn't set a new date. Luke was slipping away from Lorelai, and she didn't know how to handle it. One night, it all exploded.

Lorelai was at a weekly dinner with her parents. They had invited over Rory's father, Christopher, and a young psychiatrist they were trying to set Christopher up with as well. After dinner, Lorelai somehow found herself in the psychiatrist's car, confessing her worries about never marrying Luke. The psychiatrist urged her to do something, telling her that if she felt like she couldn't talk to him, she didn't really have him at all.

Feeling alone, and very afraid of losing the man that meant the world to her, Lorelai went to Luke. She marched into his diner and told him that it was now or never. He either loved her and wanted to marry her or he didn't, and he had to decide now. Elope with me, she pleaded, assuring him of her love. He didn't see the desperation and hurt in her eyes, couldn't hear the emotion in her voice. He was blinded by his fear of not being good enough for her. He told her he couldn't jump like that, couldn't spend everything on a chance. He watched, alone, as she walked away, and his whole world shattered."

"What happened next?" I asked.

"We need to go somewhere else for the rest of it." The young woman said. "I feel like it's sacrilegious to be telling that part of the story in Luke's diner."

"Okay," I agreed, this story intriguing me more and more with each sentence.


	4. AN, Don't Shoot Me!

**A/N:** I know, I really hate chapters that are all one great big authors note too, but this one is necessary. This story is all plotted out in my mind (and on paper), and I've spent a great deal of time thinking out the particulars. I plan to continue it and finish soon, but I feel a need to explain the absence of new chapters in the recent past. It's the beginning of spring sports in the state of Michigan, and all my time has been consumed with soccer and band rehersal (we have festival this week). I promise an update this weekend, to all those still reading this story. Thanks for reading!


	5. The Story, Part III

**A/N:** Sorry, sorry, SORRY this update took so long. This chapter concludes the "Retelling" part of the story, and next chapter, you will all get to see the crazy things my mind has come up with for the rest of the story. I promise several more chapters (Probably topping out around 15). Thanks for reading!

**Iam1kwlchick **and** 7thgirlgal** - Nope, not Lane. You'll see who it is this chapter.

**Al** - Yes, there will be more to the story than just the re-telling. Wait and see cackle. It's going to be a little unconventional, but I think it has potential.

**Just A Girl Of The Hollow x3**, **Tiffy**, **justawritier**, **vakan**, and** xogilmoregirlsox10** **-** Thanks for reviewing!

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The young woman led me out of the diner, and we started walking down a road I'd never been on. I realized I still didn't know who this young woman was.

"What's your name?" I asked her. She laughed.

"Sophie." She replied.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Well," She responded. "We've already been to Luke's and heard the part of the story that takes place there. Now we're going to Lorelai's house, because most of the rest of the story happens there." This made sense to me.

"Lead on, O brave warrior." I replied.

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She led me to a smallish blue house pretty close to the center of town. We climbed the steps of the beautiful little porch and sat on the swing. She rocked it with her foot absentmindedly before beginning the story again.

"After she left Luke that night, Lorelai was completely destroyed. She thought that Luke didn't love her, she felt completely alone. She wandered aimlessly around her house for several hours, and then she snapped. She couldn't stay in that house so full of memories of Luke. She got in her car and just drove. She got on the highway and just went where she pleased. Late that night, she was getting tired, when she realized she was right outside of Boston. She knew that Rory's father lived there, so she went to talk to him. She got to his apartment and he let her in. She woke up the next day in his bed, and she finally realized what she had done. She'd already met the only man she could ever love, and by sleeping with Christopher, she knew she had destroyed any chance she may still have had with Luke.

Heartbroken, she got in her car and drove home. She pulled into her driveway to see Luke sitting on this very porch. His truck was there, filled with all kinds of supplies. He told her he was ready, that he wanted to marry her, and would she elope with him. Her heart broke all over again as she told him what she knew she had to. She had slept with Christopher. She had thought they were over. And as he got into his truck and drove off without a word, she sat down on the porch steps and cried. She cried for hours, just letting the pain envelope her completely. When night fell, she was still sitting there. Her eyes started to dry, and she looked up at the warm summer night sky. To her, it seemed like the world was ending, but there were still stars in the sky and leaves on the trees. In the distance, she could hear the laughter of children playing together. Their lives would go on, she realized, but hers wouldn't. Without Luke, she was only existing. And as she looked at the stars and the trees, as she heard the laughter, she felt the pain in her chest take her over again. She ran away and locked herself in Rory's room, blocked out the sunlight with blankets, and refused to come out for days. She couldn't sleep. She didn't eat. All her time was filled with memories of him. And then Christopher came. He told her that he would wait forever for her, that he loved her. He asked her to give him another chance. She agreed, knowing that she had thrown away her chance with Luke and would just have to take what she could get. They dated for a while, pretty casually at first. Then, he asked her to marry him, on a trip they took to Paris. Standing in front of the Eiffel Tower early in the morning, with the man who'd fathered her only daughter, in a restaurant he'd convinced the workers to open especially for him, she still saw in him only the things he could never be. As much as she wished she could love him, she knew he would never build her a chuppah or make her a Santa Burger the way Luke had. He would never live up to the man she measured everyone against. She told him no.

He wouldn't take that answer. He begged her, saying it was basically like they had been dating 20 years. He shot down her only valid excuse, and she couldn't let him know the real reason she didn't want him. Sighing, she reluctantly told him yes.

She came back to Star's Hollow with a ring on her finger and Christopher in tow. The townspeople hated him, and they let him know it, but what could they do? They knew the only person that could break Lorelai and Christopher up was Luke, and Luke was even more of a hermit these days than he had ever been before. The vicious cycle continued until Luke and Lorelai finally ran into each other one day. He told her about his custody battle for his daughter, April. He asked if she would write a character reference. Yes, she told him, she would.

She tried for days to write that letter, but nothing she could think of seemed enough to describe the man who'd been such an incredible part of her life. She tried everything, but she couldn't find the words. It took almost a week, until she finally had the words she wanted. With shaking hands, she addressed the envelope "To Whom It May Concern", and hid it in her dresser drawer. Things were quiet for a few days, until Christopher came across the letter. He opened the envelope and read the whole thing, realizing what he had feared all along. Lorelai, his Lorelai, was still in love with Luke. He confronted her when she got home. He wanted to know why, and she couldn't bring herself to tell him. A few weeks later, he was gone and she was alone again.

It took a long time for Luke to understand what happened between them. After many long nights, and one very heartfelt conversation with Lorelai, he finally figured it out. She still loved him. At least he hoped she did. After this realization, he grabbed his coat and headed over to her house. He knocked on her door, wondering what he would say. She opened it and just stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"I'm sorry." He told her, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I shut you out. I'm so damn sorry I let you walk away. I don't expect you to forgive me, or to say you still love me too, but I hope to God that you do. You mean everything to me, Lorelai. I can't keep living like this."

"Like what."

"Like I'm incomplete. Like I blew it. I can't keep pretending it's going to get better, because it's not. If I don't have you in my life, it's not worth living."

"Good answer." She smiled. He leaned down and kissed her softly, almost like a question. She reached up and held his face, kissing him back with all her heart.

"I still love you." She whispered. "And I forgive you."

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Luke and Lorelai's wedding took place on June 3rd, 2008. There was something special about that wedding that no one who was there could ever explain. It was almost as if Star's Hollow had become a little more magical. All the flowers seemed brighter. All the children seemed healthier. All the food was even more delicious than usual. The whole town watched in awe and elation as the two people they'd watched and waited for all these years danced together on the lantern-lit floor.

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Luke and Lorelai lived for many years, and they never spent a single night apart. Their love was truly one of a kind, and it was the pride of this town for so many years. They stayed here in Star's Hollow for the rest of their lives, giving so much back to the community that had become both of their homes. Luke died first, on a beautiful summer night. He had lived a long full life, and died for no other reason than age. Lorelai followed him minutes later, choosing death over life without him. There was no crying at their funeral. People laughed and reminisced, telling stories much like this one about the incredible love story they had watched unfold right before their eyes. That was many years ago, and still we remember the story of Luke and Lorelai. Some people say that a love story like this one can't exist. That Luke and Lorelai couldn't have loved each other that much, but they're wrong. Somehow, the two most unlikely people to ever fall in love with anyone found each other, and when that happened, so did a one-time-in-history love story."

"Wow." I spoke, breaking the silence that had enveloped the porch after she had finished telling the story. "Did you know them? Luke and Lorelai?"

"No," She shook her head. "They died before I was born. My mom did though. And my grandmother. Her name was Lane Kim, and she was Rory's best friend. She saw the whole thing."

"Wow." I said again. This story was too incredible for words.


End file.
